


Tony's Not The Only One Whose Best Friend is a Bot

by spidermanstan



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Assassination Attempt(s), Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Protective Peter Parker, Shooting, Slushies, Tony Angst, god especially after this one, karen and peter are bffs and the world needs more of it so here you go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 07:15:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15967361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spidermanstan/pseuds/spidermanstan
Summary: request frommy tumblr: "could you write a fic that focuses more on peter and karen's relationship??" why, yes i can!!in which karen helps peter through the ups and downs of a day on patrol that goes from run of the mill to anything but.





	Tony's Not The Only One Whose Best Friend is a Bot

**Author's Note:**

> wrote this instead of getting some much needed sleep, but i feel like it came out great! super excited for you to read it, i think this is one of my favourites i've published so far.. enjoy!!
> 
> also: we all know that peter parkers ~~boy friend~~ best friend is ned leeds, i just like the way this title sounds :)

Peter pulled his mask up above his nose so he could take a sip of his slurpee, the cold drink a welcome contrast to the summer heat surrounding him. Yeah, they’re basically just slushy sugar liquid and if May found out that Peter had gotten a 32 ounce cup of it she’d probably put him on a salad only diet for the rest of his life. But when Ned told him that people online were mixing the Wild Cherry and Kiwi Strawberry flavours together and dubbing it the “Spider-Man Slurpee”, there was no way he wasn’t going to try it. And drinking it while on patrol only seemed fitting.

Peter smiled to himself as he wiped the corner of his mouth with the back of his gloved hand before repositioning his mask over his face. It was crazy that so many people were naming a slurpee after him, even if it wasn’t an official flavour. It was times like this where he really valued having a secret identity. He was no Tony Stark, and having everyone know he was Spider-Man would be way too overwhelming.

“So how much sugar is in this thing anyways?” Peter asked, his sweet tooth getting the best of him as he once again lifted up his mask to take another long sip.

“Your 32 ounce ‘Spider-Man Slurpee’ contains 126 grams of sugar, or 25.2 teaspoons.” Karen replied. Peter lifted the drink up higher into the afternoon light and studied the deep read colour of the drink. It did match his suit quite nicely.

“Well that’s not that bad, is it?” He asked.

“According to the American Heart Association, the maximum amount of added sugars the average male should consume in a day are 37.5 grams, or 9 teaspoons.” Karen replied. Peter processed the information before shrugging and taking another sip.

“Well I’m not the average male, so I think I’ll be okay just this once.” He reasoned as he licked some of the sweet drink from his lip before replacing his mask over his face and securing it to the rest of his suit once again.

“Alright Karen, could you please scan the area to see if there’s any suspicious activity going on?” Peter asked, taking a look around the streets below him for himself.

“Of course, Peter. How big would you like the scan radius?” She asked. Peter thought for a moment. It dawned on him that he’d never asked how far she could scan for activity.

“Uhh, how far out can you look?” He asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.

“I can scan up to three miles in all directions.” Karen replied.

“That’s awesome.” Peter mumbled under his breath. “Uh, alright then. Scan three miles out!”

“Certainly, Peter.” The AI complied. Peter heard a small ping in his ear as the ridiculously advanced cameras in his mask swept the area. He was currently perched on top of the 14 storey office building the 7-Eleven closest to his house was located on the ground floor, which made scanning the city fairly easy. He heard two beeps and a zoomed in picture of a man dressed in all black appeared in the top right hand corner of the screen in his mask.

“What do we have here..” Peter wondered out loud as he watched the way the man was walking rather quickly, both hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his black hoodie, an odd choice for the 75 degree summer weather New York was currently experiencing.

“I can’t get a clear view of his face, it’s being obstructed by his hood.” Karen began. “But I was able to pick up his elevated heart rate and blood pressure, he appears to be very anxious at the moment. I’ve also located a concealed weapon on his person.” Karen enhanced her view of the perp, picking out the handgun he was gripping tightly in his hoodie pocket. “You’ll need to get closer so I can get a clear look at his face.” Karen explained.

“Alright.” Peter nodded. “How far away is he?”

“About 1.7 miles.”Karen replied, a map to the man’s location popping up underneath his live feed. “He just walked into a Dunkin’ Donuts. If you take this route you should reach him in about two minutes.”

“Awesome.” Peter smiled. Even though this was one of the more tame features of his suit, even the little things are awe inducing to Peter. He was about to shoot out a web when he remember the drink in his hand, the condensation dripping off the cup and onto the roof of the large building. Peter quickly ran over to the shelter covering the stairwell down to the rest of the building, placing the cup behind it in the shade. “Hopefully we can stop this guy sooner than you can melt.” He told his drink as he jumped off the roof of the building and began swinging through the streets of Queens.

The location this guy decided to stop for a snack was really inconvenient for Peter, since there was nowhere he would be able to sit and watch the guy through the windows of the shop without being spotted. He opted instead to plant himself on an apartment building behind the shop and sending out Droney to give him live video and audio.

“I don’t get it.” Peter huffed after five minutes of watching the man. “He got all flustered about going to a donut shop?”

“Maybe he’s meeting someone for a date?” Karen supplied, still not able to get a clear scan of his face because he decided to sit as far back into the shop as he possibly could.

“He can’t be, he’s already started eating his donuts, and he’s not looking out for anyone.” Peter retorted. “And that still doesn’t explain why he has a gun on him.”

They watched the man for five more minutes before getting bored. Karen suggested they play a game of chess, and besides getting up to use the bathroom halfway through their first game, he didn’t do anything of particular interest.  Two thirds of the way into their third game, what had to be at least another twenty minutes later, the man finally got up from his seat and exited the coffee shop.

(Karen might’ve beat Peter in their first two games, but Peter was seriously so close to beating her! He would’ve if the guy hadn’t decided to ruin it by getting up!!)

Peter followed the man loosely for about another mile before he caught up to him near the corner of 11th and 52nd ave, perching himself on top of a nearby wedding venue. He remembered it was a wedding venue because May had taken him to one of her friend’s weddings a couple of months ago, which they had here. From where he had planted himself, Karen was able to get a clear scan of his face without Peter being seen by him.

“He doesn’t have a criminal record.” Karen concluded after she combed through some files.

“You said he has a gun, right? Can you look through gun registration databases?” Peter asked. He swung down into a nearby tree to keep up with the man at a safe distance while Karen looked through her databases. Peter was happy it was summertime, so the thick leaves on the trees were able to conceal himself from the perp.

“Hmm, I’m not finding him in the database.” Karen stated. “He’s either bought it out of state or obtained it illegally.” Peter nodded at the information, hoisting himself up onto a lamp post.

“Can we access databases from out of state?” Peter asked.

“I’ll look through them now.” The AI replied, already on it. Peter was amazed at how quickly she could work through what had to be terabytes of information in seconds.

Peter jumped to another lamp post as the man continued his rushed pace down the street. “What the heck is this guy doing?” Peter asked, more to himself than to Karen. “I mean you don’t walk around in a black hoodie with the hood up and a gun in your pocket unless you’re going to commit a crime, right?” He jumped to another lamp post. “Find anything yet?”

“Nothing.” Karen responded. “It looks like he’s carrying an illegal firearm.”

“Well I guess we can scratch the whole ‘not having a criminal record’ thing soon.” Peter pointed out, swinging into another tree. “And that still doesn’t explain what he’s doing with it.” Peter thought for a moment. “You can’t read people’s minds by any chance, can you?” He asked Karen. The AI laughed.

“Only the people I know well, Peter.” She joked. Peter could hear a smile in her voice, which was equal parts creepy and cool since he was pretty sure Karen didn’t have a mouth to smile with. He’d have to ask her about it another time, because he had more pressing matters to attend to at the moment.

Peter watched as the man turned a corner, furrowing his brows. “Where is he going?” Peter asked as he jumped up to another lamp post to get a better view. As a familiar building came into view, Peter just became more confused. “The New York Hall of Science?” Peter blurted out. “What the hell is this guy doing at the… Oh my God.” Peter’s eyes went wide as a familiar voice greeting a crowd filled his ears. “Karen oh my God!”

The memory of Mr. Stark’s voice replayed in his head. “I won’t be at the Compound on Thursday, kid. I’ll be busy the whole day at the New York Hall of Science, I donated some new exhibits and they wanna turn it into a whole thing with a ribbon cutting and a speech, you know how Bill is. Well, I suppose most Mayors are like that.. Anyways, if you really wanna work on your suit one of the best things you can do is use it, go out on patrol for the day. Maybe if you’re not tied up catching bad guys around 3:00 pm you can swing by and listen to me talk.”

Peter had kept about a block and a half distance between him and the man after Karen had scanned his face, so he was quite a ways behind him. He jumped from lamp post to lamp post, but by the time he saw Mr. Stark on a small stage before a crowd of reporters and other civilians the man was already aiming his gun.

“Mr. Stark watch out!” Peter yelled as he leapt towards his mentor. They made eye contact just as the sound of gunfire rang through the air. Peter was able to catch Mr. Stark just as he fell to the ground. The two of them were immediately surrounded by Mr. Stark’s security detail, Happy kneeling down next to them both. Mr. Stark was wearing a tight grimace as he applied pressure to his shoulder.

“Oh my God Mr. Stark I am so sorry I was following that guy and I didn’t realize what he was doing until it was too late I was too far behind him oh my God are you okay??” Peter babbled, panic flowing through his veins as chaos erupted around them.

All he could think about was Ben.

And how he had managed to let this happen again.

“Pete, I need you to calm down.” Mr. Stark began in a voice much too calm for someone who had just been shot. He lifted the hand that wasn’t wrapped around his side and gave Peter’s arm a reassuring squeeze. 

“But you—” Peter countered, cut off by a worried sob. Tony shook his head, squeezing Peter’s arm again.

“I’m gonna be okay, kid. Happy’s right here, I know the paramedics are already on their way, the nearest hospital is less than two miles away. Right now what I need you to do is chase that guy down, because we don’t know if he wants to hurt more people, okay?” Peter bit the inside of his lip, not wanting to leave Mr. Stark when he had just gotten shot. 

“You’re bleeding.” Peter choked out eloquently

“Peter can worry about me later, but right now Spider-Man has a job to do.” Mr. Stark reminded firmly. “I’ve seen a lot worse than this, kid. Listen to me; I’m gonna be fine.”

“The bullet grazed his collarbone and missed any major arteries.” Karen chimed in after doing a scan, unprompted. “Paramedics will arrive in one point five minutes, but the shooter ran away, Peter.” Peter looked down at Mr. Stark, then to Happy at his side. Mr. Stark gave his arm another squeeze.

“Call me when he gets to the hospital?” Peter asked Happy, who had placed his hand on top of Tony’s to try and lessen the bleeding from his shoulder. Happy nodded, and Peter looked back down at Mr. Stark. “Please don’t die.” He begged. Mr. Stark offered him a smile, hiding his pain as best he could.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily, kid.” He smirked. Peter let out a nervous laugh before jumping out of the tight circle of bodyguards surrounding Mr. Stark. He pulled himself up onto the roof of the science hall, Karen already scanning the area for the perp.

“Found him!” She exclaimed seconds later, the live feed of the man once again appearing, now of him sprinting down the street. Peter didn’t hesitate to swing after him, Karen shouting directions as he did so. It didn’t take long for Peter to catch up.

“Grenade web!” Peter called out as he lifted his hand towards the man, who had already spotted him. The man dodged the web and shot at Peter three times, all of which Peter dodged. “Grappling web!” Peter switched settings and was able to snatch the gun from the man’s hand, no leaving him weaponless. “Snare web!” Peter changed settings one more time, able to trap the man’s leg as he attempted once again to run. With one swift tug he was on the ground.

“Contacting law enforcement with our location.” Karen reported as Peter pulled the man into an alley and slammed him against the brick wall. He webbed the man’s hands and feet up securely, letting him fall heavily onto the pavement. He then took the magazine out of his handgun, and laid the now unloaded weapon next to him. He was still too shaken from watching Mr. Stark get shot to come up with any clever quips for the criminal. All he could think to do was take the hood off his head and ask him one question.

“Why’d you do it?” Peter asked, his shock turning to rage.

“Because Stark’s a piece of shit!” The man spit. “He deserves to die and so do the rest of you vigilante scum!” Peter really wanted to kick him, his face was right there, but wasn’t one to use excessive force unless it was needed, and the guy was already tied up, so instead he opted to kick over a dumpster, denting it with his force. When he turned back to the man, his face was as white as a ghost.

“Incoming call from Happy Hogan.” Karen informed Peter.

“The police are gonna be here to deal with you soon.” Peter spat back as he hoisted himself to the top of a building, accepting the call.

“Happy?” Peter called out, the worry returning. “How’s Mr. Stark?”

“We just got to the hospital, but the paramedics said that the bullet grazed his shoulder and didn’t look like it hit anything too important. He’s still in emerge but he’s seen a lot worse than this, Peter. He’s gonna be okay.” Peter let out a big sigh of relief at that news. “You catch the guy who shot him?”

“Yeah, I got him.” Peter replied, looking back down at the alley to see police officers already hoisting the man into a police car. “Can I come see Mr. Stark?”

“They’ve gotta give him a blood transfusion and patch up his shoulder. He told me to tell you to go back to your place and get changed, and I’ll come get you. He doesn’t want you out on patrol for the rest of the day.”

“Yeah, I think I’ve had enough excitement for one day.” Peter agreed.

“I’ll call you with any updates I get, Peter.” Happy concluded. “Stay safe.”

“I will. Stay as close to Mr. Stark as they’ll let you, he doesn’t like hospitals.” Peter advised. Happy chuckled knowingly.

“I will.” Happy replied. Peter sighed once the call ended, sitting down roughly on the roof of whatever building he was on top of. The adrenaline of the past several minutes starting to leave his body, leaving him a shaking mess. He pulled his mask off of his face so he could wipe his eyes, finally allowing himself to cry.

“You did a good job today, Peter.” Karen comforted, her voice reassuring. “Don’t feel guilty about what happened, you did everything you could, and you did everything right. I know Tony is proud of you.” Peter sniffled wetly, raising one eyebrow.

“I thought you said you couldn’t read minds.” Peter accused as he wipes his face.

“You’re the exception.” Karen reminded. “You’re not that hard to figure out, you know.” She teased.

“Hey!” Peter called out, the remark prompting a small smile. Peter took a deep breath, letting himself lie down. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, the afternoon sun a welcome feeling on his face. He stayed like that for a while.

“If you’re feeling calm enough, we should probably start heading back home.” Karen advised, bringing Peter back to reality. “Happy is going to leave to pick you up soon.” Peter sat up, rubbing his eyes.

“He’s not leaving Mr. Stark alone, is he?” Peter asked.

“I have reason to believe Miss Potts is already on her way to see him.” Karen replied. Peter nodded.

“That’s good.. I wouldn’t want him to be alone. He’d freak out.” Peter explained as he reached for his mask and pulled it over his head.

“We should probably pick up that Slurpee on the way.” Karen reminded.

“Good idea.” Peter decided. After everything that just went down, he could use a sip of the cold sugary drink. He began making his way home, making a stop onto the roof he had been on before this whole debacle had started. He didn’t even know how long ago this whole thing had started. So he asked Karen.

“Fifty seven minutes.” She replied. Peter approached where he had left his previously ice cold drink, frowning when he picked up a big cup of what was now warm sugary syrup. He frowned as Karen giggled in his ear.

“Aw man..”

**Author's Note:**

> i'm assuming if you're reading this you read through the fic, and if you did, thanks!!
> 
> you know what you should do now??
> 
> leave a comment!! you're already down here, i mean you might as well
> 
> i mean you really should leave a comment on every fic you read!! we write these things for free you know..
> 
> comments make your favourite authors real happy!!
> 
> even if it's just a key smash or the letter b 4,072 times, we love that shit!!
> 
> seriously!! comment literally anything and i will cherish it forever


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